Export taxes versus buffer stocks as optimal export policies under uncertainty

Optimal state-dependent export taxes and costly-to-store buffer stocks are compared in their welfare implications for an exporter possessing monopoly power in the international trade of a volatile commodity. Optimal stochastic control is used to derive the optimal buffer stock rules. It is shown that, if the internal and external fluctuations facing the exporter are large, if the storage costs are low, and if the price elasticity of export supply is small relative to that of export demand, the exporter would gain more from a buffer stock than from a optimal export tax. World welfare is always increased by buffer stocks, as opposed to tariffs; and, under some conditions, the foreign country might also benefit and, hence, not retaliate.     

Kommentare zu einem neuen kreislauftheoretischen Buch

Ohne ZusammenfassungMit 2 TextabbildungenV. L. Holý: Über die Zeitgebundenheit der Kreislauftheorien von Quesnay, Marx und Keynes. (Staatswissenschaftliche Studien. Neue Folge: Band 28.) Mit 12 Textabb., 197 S. Zürich: Polygraphischer Verlag AG. 1957. sfr. 18,65.     

Impacts of price variations on the balance of world trade

A standard mathematical model of a trade market is considered, and the concept of an acceptable state of the market is introduced, which takes into account the requirements of all the partners. To evaluate the ‘distance’ between the acceptable and current states of the market, a special mathematical approach is developed. This approach has been found useful for correcting the price vector to bring the states closer together.     

Development assistance: Trade versus aid and the relative performance of industrial countries

Given that both theory and empirical analyses show that foreign trade and aid have similar effects on the development process, this study develops a methodology for assessing the joint (aid plus trade) contribution of industrial countries. The results show that countries like Sweden, Norway and Denmark, which are generally regarded as having liberal aid policies, perform below average when the combined effects of aid and trade are considered while the United Kingdom, Netherland and Belgium emerge as making maximum contributions to development. In addition, the trade practices of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany largely offset these countries relatively poor aid record. The trade and aid contribution of the USSR and other socialist countries of Europe are also shown to fall far below that of the poorest performing DAC members. If the socialist countries matched average DAC performance measures their imports from developing countries would increase by $7 billion and their aid flows would be $3.1 billion higher. Finally, this study calls into question the rationale for uniform aid targets which do not account for the donor's differential trade contribution to the development effort.     

Vorwort

Ohne Zusammenfassung